Visitors look at stuffed birds on display in the newly opened Steinhardt Museum of Natural History at Tel Aviv University on Tuesday. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI
The newly opened Steinhardt Museum of Natural History at Tel Aviv University in Israel includes Israel's national natural history collection, containing more than 5.5 million specimens of fauna and flora that tell the story of biodiversity from different periods in Israel and the Middle East. Photo by Oz Rittner/handout
Visitors walk in front of the newly opened Steinhardt Museum of Natural History at Tel Aviv University on Tuesday. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI
A boy looks at stuffed animals on display in the newly opened Steinhardt Museum of Natural History at Tel Aviv University. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI
A visitor looks at a skeleton of an animal on display in the newly opened Steinhardt Museum of Natural History. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI
A boy looks at the skeleton of a turtle on display in the newly opened Steinhardt Museum of Natural History. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI
Visitors look at skeletons and stuffed animals on display in the newly opened Steinhardt Museum of Natural History at Tel Aviv University. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI
Insects are on display in the newly opened Steinhardt Museum of Natural History at Tel Aviv University. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI
A woman takes a photo of stuffed birds on display in the newly opened Steinhardt Museum of Natural History at Tel Aviv University. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI
July 10 (UPI) -- Tel Aviv University on Monday opened up its new natural history museum, a $40 million structure meant to resemble a large treasure chest.
The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History holds some of the country's most valuable treasure -- 5.7 million examples of the region's flora and fauna, some of which are now extinct. Among the items housed at the museum are the last crocodile from the Taninim River, the last bear from 1916 and an Asiatic cheetah from 1911 -- all stuffed.
Advertising
Tamar Dayan, who chairs the museum, also compared the facility to Noah's ark as "a symbol of conservation and of bringing all the world's animals together."
The 103,000-square-foot facility a migration of birds mid-flight, interactive tools and media, and films on Israel's biodiversity over the past few hundred years. The museum will feature eight permanent exhibitions along with one temporary space.
Museum officials said it's meant to stand as a call for preservation of the country's ecosystems.
"It's unusual to have a museum established in the 21st century, but this is the time," Dayan told USA Today. "We've realized the challenges are huge, but if we don't deal with them now, it's going to be too late."